Portable heater for drying grain



y 6 1930. A.. JOHNSON 1,757,716

PORTABLE HEATER FOR DRYING GRAIN Fi led Oct. 26, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 1May 6, 1930. JOHNSON 1,757,716

PORTABLE HEATER FOR DRYING GRAIN Filed Qc't. 26, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet P.EQE l lnmswrop. Y A151. Jam/saw.

Arrop/Ers.

May 6, 1930.

A. JOHNSON 1,757,716

PORTABLE HEATER FOR DRYING GRAIN Filed Oct. 26, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 aJ b 46 9 4a Patented May 6, 193( "UNITED STATES PAT m, oFF

v AXEL. JOHNSON, or s'rAvEn AILBE TA, cannon I PORTABLE HEATER nonDRYING GRAIN.

Application filed; October 26, 1927. Serial No; 228,936.

A further obj ect of the invention isto provide a, heater of thischaracter which may be readily combined with other types of apparatusfor handling grain.

With the, above and other ob]ects in View,

the invention resides essentially in a portable heating chamber andblower, more. fully described in the present specification andillustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Referring nowto the. drawings-in which like characters ofreferenceindicate corresponding parts in each figure: a Figure 1 is a sideelevation partly in section of my complete: grain drying plant- Figure 2is a fragmentary sectional view of a granary for storing grain, thesupport 'ing means for the hose, and nozzle being shown in elevation.Figure, 3 is a perspective view of the perforated grain drying pipes.

Figure 4 is a frontv elevation of the air heater. v Figure 5 is alongitudinal section of the heater and spark arrester.

Figure 6 is a side elevation of the nozzle. 7 Figure 7 is an enlargedsection on line 7-7 of Figure 6. i i Figure 8 is a fragmentary plan. ofthe engine bed or channel iron showing the slots. Figure 9 is alongitudinal section through the flanged ferrule. I f v Figure 10 is anenlarged end view of the blower. i i V Figure 11 is a section on line,11-11 of- Fig. 10. V

Figure 12 is a plan View partly in section of the'two-way outlet andvalve mechanism. Figure 13 is a section on the line 13 13 of Fig. 10.

Figure let is a front elevation of the supporting bracket for the hose.V

Referring more particularly to the draw ings, 10' designates awheeltruck on which is mounted at one end a heating chamber or furnace11, provided with a plurality oflon gitudinally extending airtu'bes 12communicating with chambers 13 and 14 at each end which in turncommunicate; with thedischargc pipe 15 and an intake pipe 16respectively. For the discharge of the products of combus: tion'a fluepipe 1'2 isprovid'edr extending out- 7 wardly and downwardly intoahumidifier or container 18;:in which is water, whereby sparks andcthelike coming through the flue 17. are eliminated. The container 18 isprovided with a discharge pipe:1,9:.

It will thus beseen that on the furnace 11 I being fired the air in thetubes 12 will be at once l1e ated,1pr0viding a source of heat sup: ply.(see Fig. 5).. Connected to,- the intake pipe 16 in any suitable manner(see Fig. 1) by means ofa flexible, section 20 is a blower 21 (see Figs.lO'and 11). provided with a 7 two-way air outlet2-2 roundedvat the endfor hose connection see Fig. 12) one arm 23. of which is, connected tothe flexible section 20 and thence-to the air. heater 1 1 to grain drier24, and the other arm 25 may be con- 7 nected to a, suitable grainconveyor member 26 through the hose 27, the blower thereby being adaptedto a dual function as hereinafter more fully referred to.

Between the chamber 13' Within the; fur- S0 nace 11 and flue pipeli' aconduit 28 ispositioned downwardly turned atone end within the flue 17and conforming to theshape there of. A portion of the'air enteringthe:chamber 13 from the blower will pass through the 8 conduit 28, theamount being regulated by the valve 29 intermediately positioned ontheconduit- 28. so that the draft in. the flue 17 may beconsiderablintensified which will provide forthe reac y elimination of the,products of combustion from the furnace chamber. and will provide. forthe forcing of these products into, the water contained in the container18. for spark arresting purposes. The blower 21 associated with thefurnacestructure is pr0.- vi'ded w'ith'the usual drive shaft 30 journalled V in suitable pillowblocksBl so, that the shaft protrudes-fromthe] blower casing at one end and is provided with a pulley 32. By meansof a belt 33 the pulley 32 is connected with 99 then riveted to thecircular revolving partitions 37. The stationary partitions are providedwith a large air passage 38 in the being retained centre and are thennotc-hedinto 'staves 39 on the outside circumference and holding thereturn guide vanes 40 adapted to lead air back through centre andmoredirectly, thus counteracting the rotary motion set up which wouldtend to greatly reduce the'elficiency of the blower; :1

i ipressure gauge 41 is provided on the two-Way outlet 22 to indicatethe amount of resistance in operatio-i1,1 and" thereby theamountpenetrating the grain, as hereinafter morefully referred to. Thiswill materially assistin selecting size and power of plants forindividual undertakings; Also 'on the two-way outlet are the hoseconnections the hose 20 leading to the air heater 11, and the hose 27leading to grain conveyor 48. Both may housed at the same time orindependently by the useof the valve 48?, the valve in any position bythe hand screw48". V M

From the foregoing it will beseen that on operation of the blower 211and the generation of heat in the furnace 11 the air passing from theblower through the conduit 16 tochamber 13 and'thence through tubes121:0 chamber 14 will beheated during this passage and will subsequentlypassthr'o'ugh conduit 15 in heated condition underpressure to bedelivered to a suitable distributor, asshown and herein referred to,while aportion of the air, as previously referredto, will pass throughthe conduit 28 providing a more intense draft in theflue 17through'which the products of combustion passwhich are subsequentlyclel'ivered through the medium of thewater in the container 18 to thestack discharge pipe 19.

' This type of heating apparatus, as referred to, may be associated withsuitable distributing and other mechanisms such as illustrat ed.Thedistributing lfmernber in connection with the discharge pipe 15includes a main vertical pipe 42 (see Figure 3) communicating withhorizontally extending branch pipes 43 and 44in turn provided at spacedintervals with a plurality of distributing, suitably bent branch pipes25 connected to perforated lengths'of pipes 46 adapted to be insertedinto the grain at any angle. In this way the predetermined airfrom thechamber 11 is injected into the grain as illustrated in Fig. 1 in thegranary or the like 47;

' For removing grain from a granary, the

air conveyor hose'27 is connected to a grain conveyor 48, this beingprovided with a sucs tion head 49, suction being induced or generated bythe blast or air current through the nozzle 50 from air hose 27, asindicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2. The grain during the operation willfollow. the. outside curve so thatthe air nozzle will not obstruct itscourse A grain delivery hose 51 may also be provided"fordelivering graininto wagons or other special places. For supporting the airconveyor-hose 27 and the grain conveyor 48 Iprovide, as illustrated inFig. 14, a support consisting of rods 52 and 53 secured to brackets '54and provided with a clamping ear member 55at the top to engage "withthe" hose. A chain 56 is also provided'at the'top to' retain the hosesupporting member at any the blower 21 may be moved to take upth'e'slack of the belt 33,3vhileinFigs. 1 and 9 is disclosed a filler orflanged ferrule 59] designed to fit into the wall'of'the granary, s0

that the pipes 46 may be conveniently insert- V 7 ed through the wallinto the grain The'se ferrules may be plugged to prevent spilling ofgrain and left iii the walls. These are i'mportant details in theconstruction, materially assisting in facilitating the erection of theapparatus" and. the satisfactory 1 working h reof when erected.

F rom the foregoing thefo'p'eration" of my device will be apparent. Whenit is'desir'ed to simply dry grain in agrafiary, the heat chamber or'furnacell is started andwith the blower 21 delivering at' apredetermined tem erature u'nder'pressure a current or blast.

of hot air, throughthe distributing system and the perforated pipes 46v'i nto'the grain. When it is desired, on the other hand, tolfremovegrain from one place to another, or

from a granary into wagons, the, blower 21 is operated and a suctionplaced through the air conveyor 27provided within the granary,causingthe grain to bedischarged the hose 46 to any desired point. I Asmany changes could be made inthe above construction, and many apparentlywidely different embodiments of. my invention, within the scope of theclaim, construct:

through ed without departing. from the spirit or scope thereof, it isintended that all matter contained in the present specification Iandaccompanying drawings shall be interpreted in an illustrative and notin a limiting sense.

i What Iclaim as my invention is:

A portable heater-for drying grain comprising a combustionechamber,'agrate in saidchamber, air compartments at each end of the chamber, airconducting tubes between the air compartments, an air inlet inconnection with one compartment, and an air outlet in connection withthe other compartment, a discharge conduit in connection With thechamber for the products of combustion, a draught inducing conduitconnected With one of the air compartments and opening into thedischarge conduit, Valve means for regulating the draught inducingconduit, a blower connected to the air inlet and spark arresting meansin connection with the discharge conduit.

In witness whereof I have my hand.

hereunto set AXEL JOHNSON.

